The story is all too familiar: Middle School: Hormones kick in. Girls can get pregnant. Boys can become fathers. Mobility becomes part of the classroom experience. The proving stage. Emergency expulsions increase by a factor of 1500% over elementary school; short term expulsions triple. Juvenile arrest rates in lower income neighborhoods are double and triple those in higher income neighborhoods.

7% of students nationally suspended or expelled

25% of African-American male students suspended or expelled

In inner-city schools, more than 65% of all students suspended or expelled.

Drop-out rates exceed 50% in inner-city neighborhoods.

Almost 100% of incarcerated youth have been suspended or expelled Over 80% of all incarcerated adults have dropped out of school.

Suspension is used disproportionately with students who are male, of color, poor, and of low educational achievement

There is no evidence that African American students act out more than others. Studies show that the disproportionality in school discipline is not due to characteristics of African American students, but to bias and discrimination in the system. School characteristics are differentially related to suspension rates, rather than student behavior.

Suspended students in 26 states have no form of education.

Over one million African-American students are being suspended each school year. More than 100,000 are suspended in the I-5 corridor.